Header connectors are used with IC packs or memory cards for interconnecting the semi-conductor circuit of the IC pack to an external circuit such as a main electronic unit. The IC pack is inserted into the header connector and is extracted therefrom as needed.
Often, such header connectors are configured for mounting on a surface of a printed circuit board. The connector includes a dielectric housing having a forward mating face from which contact sections of a plurality of contacts project for interconnection with the contacts of the IC pack. The housing has a bottom mounting face for mounting the connector on the printed circuit board and a rearward terminating face from which terminating sections of the contacts project for connection to corresponding circuit traces on the printed circuit board. For instance, the terminating sections may have contact pads for soldering to the circuit traces.
With header connectors of the character described above, various problems are encountered in the area of the terminating sections of the contacts. Specifically, the contacts usually are secured in through passages in the dielectric housing. Conventionally, two horizontal rows of passages and corresponding contacts are provided in vertical columns with at least a pair of passages and corresponding contacts in each column. Consequently, the terminating sections of the contacts must project from the rearward terminating face of the dielectric housing at different angles and different distances from the housing for soldering to the circuit traces on the printed circuit board, which, of course, are in different arrays on the surface of the board. Problems are encountered in providing sufficient flexibility for all of the terminating sections regardless of which row of passages within which the respective contacts are secured. Other problems involve providing surfaces on the terminating sections, outside the dielectric housing, without interfering with the rearward terminating face of the housing. In addition, problems are encountered in header connectors of the character described in affording visual observation of the condition of the printed circuit board terminations.
This invention is directed to solving the above problems in a header connector apparatus of the character described.